


48 HOURS

by DuskOfAurora



Category: IZONE (Band)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Cute, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:13:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25182295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuskOfAurora/pseuds/DuskOfAurora
Summary: Minju, the extroverted city girl, had a damage in her brain where her memories reset every 48 hours, but how can Chaewon, the introverted country girl, can win her heart over
Relationships: Kim Chaewon (IZONE)/Kim Minju
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	1. one.

Chaewon never dreamt of living in this big city... ever.

She was brisk walking around city searching for some place. The early hours walk exercise was supposed to be a morning peaceful stroll like she had planned in mind the night before she fell into slumber – just like she used to do in her daily morning routine back at her former residence in the countryside. It was the best exercise for her as an introvert because of less people she could bump into as she didn’t like strenuous physical activities or any sort nevertheless – but it turned out the complete opposite on the docket and it was not calm... at all.

Chaewon was supposed to be at the central city park for the first time where she could feel the fresh morning breeze gently touching her body that could make that hairs on her skin bristled. She was supposed to see the faint sway of the leaves on the trees, and the sweet smiles painted on the faces of the small children and the elderly who were cherishing their precious time. She was supposed to smell the flowers and the scent of the freshly cut grass and bushes on the ground beside the concrete pavements. She was supposed to hold a paper cup of coffee which had the taste of freshly brewed dark roast coffee beans that she was a devotee of while having a saunter. She was supposed to hear the soft sound of the chirping of the birds and the quietness of the surroundings. She was supposed to feel the silence that the central park could offer.

It was supposed to be like that.

But it wasn’t.

Instead, Chaewon was soaking in sweat, jogging around, tripping herself over, and kept turning her neck in one hundred eighty degrees angle as she kept looking around for a potential place to stay for a while to do her urgent work at the busy streets in a morning rush hour surrounded by the sky rocketing towers of buildings and other establishments – in which if ever she would suddenly stop moving in the middle of the sidewalk, the people around her who were in a hurry to go to their respective jobs or errands might knocked her off her feet accidentally and would definitely curse at her for being an obstruction and an absolute idiot. There’s nothing pleasant to see at this hour – especially, most faces she passed by looked like they were plotting a murder inside their minds. She could hear the stuck cars in traffic honking there and then because of a minor car collision happened at the intersection where the parties involved were already at each other’s throats. To add it up, the air and noise pollution, and everything made it a lot worse than she expected. This culture shock scared the hell out of her which she felt like she didn’t wanted to go out in the city again – if only her sudden going out this morning was not that important, she would definitely lock herself in her apartment forever. Somehow it crossed her mind at this point that she wanted to go back to the countryside – she had no intentions to stay in the big city in the first place if it isn’t for new learning and job opportunities that could make her grow more professionally.

Everything was completely different the way she used to grow up with.

This was definitely not she imagined it to be.

Chaewon just moved in two days ago in the city and it’s her first time to set her foot in here. She spent those two days to settle herself in a cozy medium-sized loft apartment in which her new employer provided it for free for her – not to mention that her basic cost of living was also shouldered by them. As a matter of fact, it didn’t take her a whole day just to straighten everything out in her apartment because she only had few stuff to begin with – she grew up as a minimalist where she only lived with things that she really needed and removed anything that could distract her from living with intentionality and freedom. She was also provided a private company car that she could use anytime for her personal and professional use – but the problem was she didn’t know how to drive yet for the reason being she’s an introvert homebody where she always spent her days coding and programming in her computer and she rarely go outside except for her morning walk routine she used to do back to the days where she’s still living in the countryside so the brand new car was rotting there in the apartment car park floor at the basement. Those were all part of her fringe benefits as the newly hired manager and team leader of the top software engineering team of a famous giant technology company that specialized in mobile app development, and internet-related services and products based in South Korea.

Chaewon was born and raised from the countryside. She grew up with a shy, loner, and timid personality so she preferred doing lone activities that didn’t require much socializing because talking to new people in a minute could drain her easily – even hearing them breathe near her could make her exhausted but she only had couple of friends that she could count on her finger that she trusted the most and comfortable to talk with – that’s why she devoted most of her free time and energy alone to teach herself by reading and watching anything related to software engineering and developing during her middle and high school years. After a while, she took a degree in software engineering in their local university and she graduated with highest honours. She planned all of these since the beginning and it went well according to plan. She knew as a software engineer that she could work anywhere especially at home as long as she had her computer and an access to internet – and that’s what she always wanted was to stay at home all the time. She’s really living the life she wanted.

The main reason why she moved in the big city was that due to her exceptional computer software programming, coding, and problem-solving skills – she single-handedly and independently developed an easy to use mobile productivity-boosting app that was helpful and efficient for those busy people who tend to forget things in their daily routines and lives – and she included herself in one of those people that’s why it became the inspiration why she developed this app. Because of the popularity of this app in the mobile app market, she was offered a job to innovate and expand her app even more by a giant technology company based where the headquarters was in the city – and she took this once in a lifetime opportunity. What’s good about it was that her new employer didn’t really require her to be present at their main office all the time (but she can go if she wanted to) and she would only go to the main office if her physical presence was needed in the important meetings with her colleagues at the top management. Also as a team leader, she could arrange face-to-face meetings too with her team – but knowing Chaewon, she would do any means not to go outside so she would probably stick with group video conferencing to discuss things – but if she didn’t have a choice, she would eventually meet them personally. Chaewon might be an introvert, but she had a great communication skill only if it’s work-related because it’s her cup of tea – and she didn’t enjoy small talks or talking about stuff that she considered not worthwhile for the reason of she didn’t like talking in general.

So to wrap it all, she’s working from home all the time – all she need was a good and fast internet connection, essential work-related gadgets and her laptop. But the thing was how she was supposed to work from home if her internet connection was acting like a total bitch in the times she needed it the most – she needed to conduct a preliminary interview via video conferencing of a job candidate for the position of assistant manager for her team this morning. Chaewon called her internet provider but it turned out they’re acting like a bitch too with a really bad customer service. They only told her that their system was down at the moment so it was under maintenance and it would take them like more than two hours to finish it – well, she could hack to gain access to her neighbour’s internet connection but the problem was they also had the same internet provider so it’s no use. She had another option though, she could go to their office because the internet connection there was insanely fast but she just realized that their office was scheduled to have a pest control today that’s why it’s convenient for the employees to work from home in times like this. Another option was she could also postpone the interview but she didn’t want to because she just got hired just two days ago and she didn’t want to disappoint her superiors because she needed to find an assistant as soon as possible.

This was indeed Chaewon’s first worst day living in the city. She had no choice but to go outside in the morning rush hour (which she hated the most) to search for a place where she could get at least a free access to internet connection.

Chaewon was wearing a black-striped white tee under a cotton gray blazer, plain mint green ankle pajama pants, mismatched colourful socks, a pair of black low Chuck Taylor All-Stars shoes, and a leather sling laptop bag – so basically, she’s wearing her sleeping clothes from top to bottom where she just decided to add wearing her only work blazer and her only pair of casual sneakers so at least she would still somehow looked decent outside. She didn’t really paid much attention to her appearance in her lower garments because she didn’t need to flaunt it on the street runway and also while she’s conducting the interview. She’s running out of time because she snoozed off her alarm clock so she woke up late. Given that she’s a low-maintenance woman, she would be probably ready in less than thirty minutes or so before her work – but because of the fortuitous event that happened, she was forced to go outside to find a free WiFi and time was running out in which she only had less than twenty minutes left before the official set time to conduct an interview. 

Finally, she saw the wall logo signage of Starbucks coffee shop so she rushed her way there but just what she expected, the queue at the counter was long and the cafe was total packed. Chaewon heaved a sigh and felt like she had no choice but to reschedule the interview even though she didn’t want to because she didn’t like the feeling of bothering others so as much as possible especially if she’s the one causing the unintentional and unwanted trouble so most of the time she’s always the one who kept on adjusting even if the situation was understandable and not really that a big deal at all but for her it was and it mattered.

But when she turned her head to her right, she saw a small local coffee shop called “Forelsket Cafe” on the other side of the road just across the Starbucks coffee shop. There were no customers in at the moment which Chaewon already had an idea why. It’s either their coffee was that bad that people preferred to fall in line in a long queue in Starbuck coffee shop or the owner had a bad business marketing strategy if ever the owner of Forelsket Cafe where the last one who picked a location of their business because why would someone established a business right in front of the big coffee shop where it’s like skating on thin ice – unless the owner of the small coffee shop had an edge or a game plan that would surprise the world someday but one thing was for sure, there’s definitely something because the owner would not risk losing a lot of money for a bad business, right?

Regardless whatever the reason was, Chaewon saw it as a perfect opportunity and place to do her work especially when she saw the “Free WiFi” written on a lengthwise bond paper taped on the glass door beside the “open” signage and the lack of customers at the moment where she wouldn’t feel awkward while conducting the interview and also for less noise pollution. So she crossed the street and entered the coffee shop with panting breath.

Usually, Chaewon would search online for the menu beforehand whenever she would plan to eat outside. She always prepared it well in her mind before executing it because when someone suddenly struck up a small conversation with her or just simply asked her something, she would definitely freaked out a bit and stammered to the point she would say inaudible words – maybe because her mind was too fast to think that her mouth couldn’t follow what she’s about to say. Her awkwardness was worse before where there’s actually one time when she ordered a regular meal at a fast food joint where the cashier lady asked her if she would like everything in her meal to be up-size and she would only need to add a few bucks just like a business hack just to boost sales, she would always say yes to everything – not because she had a lot of money (well obviously, she had due to the popularity of her own mobile app) and she could eat it that jumbo meal all in one sitting (well obviously, she couldn’t) but because she couldn’t take talking without thinking too much because that was she was – she tend to think all the time so to end the conversation quickly, she would just give short answers as much as possible and gone with flow to everything and after a few minutes that the person she talked to left in which gave her room to think, she would always say in her mind, “Crap, I shouldn’t have said that. I should have said this instead.”

The doorbell rung and three heads turned at her like they didn’t really expect any customers would come in at this hour – one stopped mopping the floor and gave her a gangster look, one had a robotic look and was secretly pinching the leftover bread that the coffee shop was selling, and one with poker face was wiping the mugs - which startled and confused Chaewon where she quickly took a step back outside before the glass door closes itself to peek at the signage to make sure that the “open” signage was correctly displayed on the glass door in which it really was. Chaewon gently came back in where the one who was wiping the mugs shushed and gave a stern look at the one mopping the floor who couldn’t hold her laughter – Chaewon could runaway because of the embarrassment but she needed the free WiFi so swallowed her pride and took light steps towards the cashier register where she was greeted with a reassuring smile from Eunbi who’s the manager of the coffee shop, placing the coffee mug on the cup rack after she wiped it.

“Hello! Good morning! What can I have for you today?”

Chaewon went to the counter, wiping the sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand with her eyes fixated on the cash register machine because she couldn’t bear eye contact with anyone. She ordered her usual go-to food and drink in every coffee shop she went through – she probably didn’t have the time to search the menu to plan beforehand on the internet if ever there was one and she didn’t look on the menu written on the chalkboard above them and the pastries counter beside the cash register machine because of what happened earlier – in which she hoped that this coffee shop had also available products because it’s going to be another embarrassment for her if they didn’t have it and she would probably dash towards the door this time around. “Hi. Can I have a slice of cheesecake and a cup of dark roast coffee?” She uttered in an incredible speed.

“Sorry, what is it again?” Eunbi leaned bit closer to hear Chaewon properly.

“Sss- Sli- Slice of chee- cheese cake,” Chaewon stuttered when she realized she screwed up a bit but still avoiding meeting Eunbi’s eyes.

“Alright. And?” Eunbi asked with unwavering smile.

“A da- dark ro- ro-roast co- coffee,” Chaewon stared at her feet while adjusting the strap of her laptop sling bag on her shoulder as she realized that she’s still on her pajama pants and she’s wearing a mismatched socks in which she assumed that this must be the reason why everyone in this coffee shop gave her looks like she’s a crazy woman. 

“Okay. For here or to go?” Eunbi asked while she’s tapping the screen to process her order.

“Fo-for here,” Chaewon pulled her sling bag upward with her hand supporting the base while her other hand was fishing inside to reach for her wallet. She didn’t know how much was it for Eunbi wasn’t still finish tapping the order in the screen – so to play it safe, she pulled her largest bill and placed it carefully at the counter and she didn’t return her wallet inside her laptop bag because she’s waiting for the change then hung her head low after.

Eunbi was done when she saw the bill on the counter as the total due appeared on the small screen in front of Chaewon. “I’m sorry, but do you have a smaller bill? We don’t have a change yet because it’s too early and you are our first customer. We’re sorry,” she apologized.

Chaewon looked up and finally met her eyes. “Oh sorry, it’s fine,” she quickly broken up the eye contact and veered her line of sight at the screen to check the amount due then she collected her smaller bills and coins in her wallet to pay the exact amount in which she surprisingly she had plenty – she just had a habit of always paying her largest bill not because she wanted to hoard smaller bills and coins when she’s given her a change, but because she didn’t like the feeling someone was waiting for her especially if the queue behind her was long and piling up, she just preferred the cashier was the one who would take his or her time to count the money of her change and gave it to her rather than the other way around. Fortunately, she’s the first customer to come so there’s no line at the moment and Eunbi seemed like pretty chill about anything so she didn’t feel much pressured as Chaewon gathered her payment and kindly placing it on the counter.

“Anyway, sorry about a while ago if we made you feel uncomfortable when you came in. We have a regular first customer that always gets here at this hour all the time so we’re surprise when you walked in. We rarely get customers too since that one came,” Eunbi puckered her lips pointing at the big coffee shop in front of them just across the streets. “That’s why,” she heaved a sigh.

Chaewon took a peek behind her as she saw Starbucks coffee shop was packed and the queue was still long. She returned her sight after at the palm of her hand continuing to count the coins as she nodded and hummed in agreement – she just not used to engage in small talks but she understood the situation as it also piqued her curiosity about the regular customer who always came in first – that person must be awarded of most loyal and punctual award of this coffee shop despite of rivalling against the popular coffee shop in front of it.

“And sorry about Yena over there, she just loved teasing and poking fun at new customers. I hope you don’t get offended, she just go a little crazy sometimes,” Eunbi told her to ease up the mood when she somehow sensed the awkwardness in Chaewon as she kept the conversation going like the usual as she raised her chin pointing towards Yena who’s done mopping the floor and now wiping some tables.

“It’s fine. No worries,” Chaewon smiled softly as she completely handed over the exact amount to Eunbi but she quickly fixated her eyes at the menu above written on the chalkboard for the reason being she didn’t know where else to look at because she didn’t wanted them to think that she had a thing for floors for she kept staring the ground.

“Thank you,” Eunbi reached for it and placed it respectively on the money drawer as she saw Chaewon out of the corner of her eye that Chaewon was still scanning the menu, thinking that she might be wanted to add in her order so Eunbi asked her. “Is there anything else you would like to add?”

“Oh,” Chaewon was startled as she was caught a little off guard. “No. I’m just looking,” she chuckled awkwardly. 

Eunbi smiled and nodded as she ripped the receipt on the receipt printer and gave it to Chaewon. “Here you go, the WiFi password was written on the piece of paper pasted at the bottom of the small vase of the fake flower decor in all tables and we will serve your order in your chosen stable.”

“Thanks,” Chaewon paced her way as she observed the decors of the coffee shop – it’s the typical classic rustic house with modern twist coffee shop. The place looked small when it was viewed from the outside but the space inside was just quite enough. There were lot of artificial plant decors in which the ceiling was most entirely covered in faux hanging plant, wooden walls and floors wherein some parts had bricks accents. The lightning made the ambience quite warm and nice, and that’s what Chaewon wanted. 

There were one long table with three high stools each side on the centre, four round wooden tables with two armchairs each beside the glass windows, and two round tables at the tight corner with enough space between it that shared the same long brick wall built-in seating banquette occupying the whole tight space on one side of the two round tables in which the other side of it had two separate armchairs each. Chaewon chose to sit at the built-in seating banquette as she slid herself in between the round tables and scooted herself on the couch at one end wherein on her right was another brick wall and on her left was the round table which also shared the built-in seating banquette which was beside the glass window. She chose this seat because first of all, almost everybody in this world preferred seating in the couch when dining in (including herself), and lastly, she didn’t want unnecessary backgrounds while she’s running the interview. 

She placed her laptop on the table and pressed the power button on its side. She quickly entered the WiFi password and she got accessed immediately. She went to her company portal and she saw that the person she would be interviewing were already online but she decided not to proceed in the interview – Chaewon isn’t too late nor isn’t too early. She knew how to respect time and she just wanted to start just right on time – she also looked shit at the moment and she had less than minutes left before the official interview time would start so she fixed herself up first – she pulled her blazer off her shoulders and let it drooped on her arms as she tried to give herself some fresh air wherein the sweat was visible on her tees and blazer armpits then she wiped up her sweat by the free tissue beside the fake flower in a vase on the table in which she almost consumed all, she used her phone screen as the mirror and put some face powder in her face after and a little light lip tint, then she’s done after a while. She didn’t need much makeup because she didn’t have too much knowledge in applying makeup in her face wherein she also didn’t bother to learn that skill due to fact that she’s natural and effortlessly pretty – plus, she’s just interviewing and meeting a possible job candidate and she’s not having a video call with a sugar daddy in which she didn’t have one because Chaewon, herself, could be one instead.

She was done with everything so she was just killing time when Eunbi slowly came to her and appeared to be in deep concern as she kept looking the time on her wristwatch like she’s waiting for someone or something. “Excuse me?”

Chaewon turned her head at her without saying anything.

“I apologize for this and I hate to do this but can I request if you can move to another free table because the reserved sign is supposed to be displayed on the table but when Yena wiped this one a while ago, she forgot to bring it back. It’s already reserved to someone really important. I’m sorry,” Eunbi apologized as she was rubbing the palm of her hands to ease her worries.

“Oh. No, it’s okay. I understand,” Chaewon smiled it out and it didn’t really bother her at all as long as she had the brick wall as her background, it’s all fine by her. She quickly gathered her stuff and scooted herself on the built-in seating banquette to the other end to move to the next round table beside the glass window.

“Thank you so much,” Eunbi sighed in relief. “I’m really sorry for the inconvenience. I just need to do this to avoid confusion. You have another free cake slice of cheesecake for this.”

“Oh. That’s great. Thanks,” Chaewon beamed. Usually at times like this, Chaewon would just refuse because it’s not of a big deal but since it’s a free slice of cheesecake, she would never refuse to such offer. No cake could ever compete of her love for cheesecake best partnered with dark roast coffee.

“You’re welcome. Just call the attention of anyone of us if you need anything,” Eunbi smiled back and walked back to the barista counter where she walked passed by Hyewon at the opposite direction who was holding the tray with Chaewon’s order on it as she walked towards Chaewon. Eunbi told about Hyewon about the free slice of cheesecake as they continued to navigate their respective ways.

Chaewon got occupied in her thoughts as she wondered what Eunbi meant to avoid confusion as Hyewon carefully placed the tray on the other empty table for a while because Chaewon’s table had small free space because of her laptop. She placed the contents on Chaewon’s table gently while Chaewon was busy spacing out. “If you want to claim your free slice of cheesecake, just call any of our attention.” Hyewon said while holding the empty train with a hand on her back. 

Chaewon eventually came back to her senses where she gave Hyewon a quick smile and nodded as Chaewon veered her sight back to her laptop screen.

“But can I say something?” Hyewon whispered.

Chaewon was surprised as she shifted her vision back at Hyewon. “Uhm. Okay. Sure? What is it?” 

Hyewon leaned a little but with comfortable space near Chaewon’s ear as she whispered. “Just in case you can’t eat your free slice of cheesecake or you don’t want it anymore, you can give it to me.”

Chaewon leaned back a bit and felt odd by her actions but she laughed it off quietly. “Let’s see about that.” 

Eunbi saw Hyewon and knew what she was up to so she gained her attention from the barista counter. “Hey Kwangbae! You should stop bothering the customer and come back here to your position now.” Eunbi demanded as her eyes were glued at her digital wristwatch as Hyewon rushed back and squeezed herself between Eunbi and Yena. 

“She’s coming now in fifteen seconds before exactly eight in the morning,” Eunbi informed them as the two nodded and got prepared.

Chaewon overheard them which made her utterly confused as to what they were doing while watching them like they were in a theatre play or sort where they were suddenly doing some other things out of ordinary and which Chaewon questioned to herself why Eunbi started counting down while looking at her watch like there’s a firework display after the new year’s countdown.

“Ten”

“Nine”

“Eight”

“Seven”

“Six”

“Five”

“Four”

“Three”

“Two”

“And...”

They all stared where Chaewon sat.

“One”

Chaewon got completely confused as she felt like why they were looking at her like what happened a while ago when she first came in but this time it was more intense which Chaewon felt like she’s in a prank TV show or something where she’s about to start to find the hidden cameras installed somewhere – if ever she was, she’s not that ready to become that crazy prank victim that would become viral and surfaced quickly on the internet because she’s still in her sleepwear clothes but if ever she would become an internet sensation, at least she had another source of income... or should they said, another source of humiliation.

“She’s here,” Yena announced as they all started acting up and doing questionable things which sometimes Chaewon could get a grasp about why they rarely get customers nowadays because they’re all acting weird. 

Chaewon decided to also see what they were looking at her left beside the glass window where she saw a black wavy-haired lady wearing oversized white plain tee where the hem of her shirt in front was tucked inside the waist band of her high-waist ankle cut denim skinny jeans, a pair of white sneakers, a small sling black sling bag, and a bright smile on her face.

Chaewon couldn’t take her eyes off her as she watched her up to the moment where she took steps inside when the black-haired lady came through the door, utterly astonished and speechless where Chaewon got easily captivated by the newcomer’s beauty.

Chaewon never really dreamt of living in this big city... ever.

But with just a split second, everything slowly began to change where Chaewon taught to herself.

“Holy fuck. Who says living in the city isn’t this great?”


	2. two.

"Today's the day... again."

Minju was lying still in her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling for few minutes already as she glanced at the time in her digital alarm clock on her bedside table. She heaved a sigh as she veered her sight back to the ceiling when she realized she woke up not so bit early before her usual early rising time. It's 6:59 am and she only had a minute left before her digital alarm clock began to ring at 7 am so she decided to use that last minute to keep staring at the ceiling in a withdrawn state. It’s neither she’s excited to start her day nor she’s having a hard time to sleep last night – she’s just feeling okay... at least.

Finally, her alarm rang and she tap the button of the digital alarm clock as she quickly sat up so she wouldn't feel tempted to doze off because at this rate, time is of the essence and now she only had an hour left before the 48 hours would end.

Minju observed her surroundings for a bit without noticing that she was smiling to the fact that Eunbi's bed was neatly made with the piglet stuffed toy that Minju gave her as a birthday gift on Eunbi’s bed and her corner in the room was organized, compared to hers which was somewhat chaotic that led to handful events where Eunbi always scolded Minju every time she made a mess and forgot to – or rather, intentionally never cleaned up. Minju wasted no time as she made her bed as nicely as possible just like Eunbi’s then navigated her way towards the bathroom outside of their room wherein she noticed Hyewon and Yena's bedroom just beside theirs as she took a peek from the ajar bedroom door that it was much more chaotic than hers that produced a giggle from her mouth, expecting to witness them enduring the stern scolding from Eunbi later.

Eunbi, Hyewon, Yena and Minju were cousins and they were all living in a big apartment of Minju's family. Minju and Eunbi were sharing a room together and were using the former bedroom of Minju’s parents while Hyewon and Yena were using Minju’s old room. Minju's parents moved out a year ago to live in the countryside due to their health condition for them to have some fresh air because of advance age. Minju was a menopausal baby for her parents was a bit old when she was conceived. Her parents tried many times throughout those years and they never gave up until Minju came along. That’s why Minju was considered to be a miracle baby by her parents – in which being a miracle to live in this world was proved once again regarding that unfortunate event that happened to her few months prior.

Growing up, Minju was described as a kind and energetic chatterbox full of rays of sunshine by anyone she met since she was a kid. She became a friendly outgoing person as years gone by to the point where she knew how to deal with people so naturally and also how to engage anyone in a small talk or deep conversations without making the other party uncomfortable for Minju was surrounded with large group of people with different types of personalities throughout her life – her family clan was humongous but Eunbi, Hyewon, Yena, and Minju kept a strong bond with each other despite how extensive it was wherein her three older cousins treated her like their real younger sister because Minju was an only child for her mother couldn’t bear another child anymore due to infertility.

That's why Minju’s three older cousins decided to join Minju and lived with her for Minju also liked to be around with people most of the time and didn't like the idea of being alone. Especially now that Minju had become an extra special kind of person and that her three older cousins also always took extra special care of her – not to mention the coffee shop that was owned by Minju's parents had now been entrusted its management to Eunbi due to the circumstances since Minju’s parents moved out.

She took a quick cold shower and got dressed up with her everyday go-to fashion style which was just the same old oversized tees and skinny jeans. She was drying her hair with a towel while facing the leaning floor mirror at the corner of her bedroom when her phone on her bed produced a beep sound in which she stopped on her tracks and went on to check it – it’s a notification from her reminder app about her last reminder for the day which was she needed to leave at a certain time to go to the coffee shop. But before Minju closed the app, she read out loud the pinned reminder at the top of her list and repeated it in her head for few times.

“Do not trust easily. Always keep your guard up all the time.”

Minju knew she would definitely forget about that reminder sooner or later but at least she tried to always keep it to her heart. Minju had a heart of gold and was an open type of person but she needed to be more cautious for many people wanted took advantage of her due to her condition. That’s why she pinned that reminder so she would always see it even after the 48 hours would end. 

She tossed her phone on her bed and went to the huge cardboard hanged on the wall in the living room. Stuffs that were pinned on it were mostly photos of her family, cousins, and close friends on its edges, a to-do list and other home notes and reminder on the top, and a newspaper and article clips about her condition on the centre to remind herself and to understand when everything starts to come back to square one. She ran her fingers through the postings as she scanned it, questioning things inside her head, knowing she would never get the answer as to why it was happened to her.

Minju had an anterograde amnesia. It’s a type of amnesia where she lost the ability to create new memories anymore in which she could only remember the data and events before the accident. Her life was on a constant loop wherein all the events and new people she met would be completely erased in her memories after 48 hours and her memories would just reboot to the day before the accident – in also which she couldn’t recall that she had an accident that day.

A sad smile crept out on her face as Minju tried to shrug that thought away for she knew she would definitely forgot the feeling of disappointment and indifference later after 8 am where her memories would start to reboot but eventually feeling it again after as Minju was actually curious about her reaction today when the time came where Eunbi would tell her what’s going on, because every time Eunbi would tell her the truth about the accident and her condition for countless times every after 48 hours, Minju had various reactions depending on what she’s feeling that day – there were times she would runaway back to the apartment where she would saw the postings and photos pinned on the huge cardboard in the living room as she realized Eunbi wasn’t making up stories, but her most common reaction was to cry alone.

Minju was indeed aware of her condition in the first few days after she woke up from comatose for three weeks at the hospital after the accident but she tend to forget it that’s why she should always stay informed every after 48 hours. Since then, Eunbi was always the one who would always broke the news to her so that she could still live her life in the present somehow even if the memories in her mind were still trapped in the past because Minju trusted Eunbi so much that Minju would always believe her without a hunch.

Minju went back to their bedroom as she prepared to leave. She picked up her phone from her bed and placed it carefully at the bottom of her sling bag, making sure it was there. After final preparations, Minju made her way to the coffee shop which was just ten minutes away by foot from their apartment. She scanned her surroundings, looking out for a potential danger that could harm her as she walked by, making sure she would arrive at the coffee shop safe and sound on or a bit early before 8 am.

The feeling of getting used to it was blotting up through her mind. She knew she would forget about everything during those 48 hours but what else she could do. No matter how badly she tried to remember those new memories she created, she wasn’t able to recall it after a certain time. This was always their routine after every 48 hours – Minju must be at the coffee shop on or a bit early before 8 am for the last thing she remembered before the accident was she accidentally left her phone on the coffee shop the night prior after attending a birthday party of one of her friends, and she woke up a with a slight hangover the next day as she went to the coffee shop to get it. She saw Yena and Hyewon are fighting over a cheese bread and Eunbi was trying to broke them apart as she giggled from the sight of it from a distance when she’s about to cross the street and then... that’s it.

Then it would all repeat over and over again...

...every 48 hours.

* * *

“Eunbi unnie, do you think it’s a great idea to make that woman stay here and witness all that is bound to happen in any second? She might be freaked out or something, you know?” Yena, in a loud whisper, asked Eunbi who was approaching back at the barista counter and stood beside her as the duck-faced girl was stealing glances at Chaewon who was now currently talking to Hyewon.

Eunbi sighed softly as she was kept checking the time on her wristwatch. “To be honest, I feel sorry for her but I guess we have no choice. She’s still our customer.”

Yena quickly asked back. “Why do you feel sorry for her?” 

“You know, I kind a feel that she’s new here. Well, not just a new customer in this coffee shop but she’s sending me the first time in the city vibes,” Eunbi shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. She looks a little lost.”

“Oh. That’s why you didn’t suspect her to be like one of the people who pretended to be customers who always came here a little early than Minju to take advantage of her condition to pretend that Minju was in a relationship with them for they know that Minju couldn’t remember anything because her memories reboots at 8 am after every 48 hours would pass?”

“Well, yeah. She looks harmless and I think she came here without any intention to Minju. That’s why I didn’t make her leave when she first came in. Plus, she looks like she’s not used to be outside all the time.”

“I think that’s the way she is. Maybe you’re just not used to people like her because you’re always stuck up with the most obedient and gentle cousins with you every day,” Yena pouted at Eunbi while giving her pretty eyes.

Eunbi raised an eyebrow at her as she shook her head lightly in disagreement. “Just please do me a favour. Don’t do anything unnecessary and just stick to the usual plan when Minju comes later so that woman over there won’t be so shock about everything. She really looked like she had enough culture shock in her today,” Eunbi reminded as she pointed using her lips towards Chaewon in which Yena hissed as she mouthed the word “boring” to herself.

Eunbi saw Hyewon and knew what she was up to so she gained her attention from the barista counter. “Hey Kwangbae! You should stop bothering the customer and come back here to your position now.” Eunbi demanded as her eyes were glued at her digital wristwatch as Hyewon rushed back and squeezed herself between Eunbi and Yena. 

“Ouch,” Yena rubbed her arm while pouting as she was claiming the inexistent nudge by Hyewon when she shoved her way in the narrow space between her and Eunbi.

“Stop overreacting, princess. I didn’t even touch your arms,” Hyewon rolled her eyes at Yena who was quiet bad at holding her laughter.

“She’s coming now in fifteen seconds before exactly eight in the morning,” Eunbi informed them as the two nodded and got prepared.

Yena grinned as she whispered. “Hey Kwangbae, do you want to see a god-tier acting later? It’s been a while since we have an audience.”

“Suit yourself,” Hyewon snickered as she whispered back. “I’ll just pray for your poor soul now and lay candles in your grave if ever you will get a face-to-face scolding from Eunbi unnie later,” Hyewon sighed as she stared at the cheesecake left inside the pastries counter. “All I want is a free cheesecake too.” 

Eunbi started counting down.

“Ten”

“Nine”

“Eight”

“Seven”

“Six”

“Five”

“Four”

“Three”

“Two”

“And...”

They all stared where Chaewon sat.

“One”

Chaewon got completely confused as she felt like why they were looking at her like what happened a while ago when she first came in but this time it was more intense – but she wasn’t really the one they’re staring at – they’re actually looking outside at the pavement as they anticipated for Minju to come because she would walked by on that side across the street.

“She’s here,” Yena announced. “Okay Kwangbae, place your---“ Yena wasn’t even finish speaking when Hyewon already shoved the cheese bread inside her mouth.

“Shut up and just do your thing,” Hyewon then calmly wrapped her hands on Yena’s neck. “Okay here, we go,” Hyewon whispered in a disappointed face, still evident that she badly wanted a free cheesecake too, as she was slowly pushing and pulling Yena with her hands still around her neck. “How dare you to eat my cheese bread?” She confronted Yena in her “angry” tone.

“Can’t you be more like convincing than that? I want to showcase my acting skills to the new customer.” Yena demanded as she was munching the whole ass cheese bread in her mouth in which some crumbs were flying out from it as she spoke and few landed on Hyewon’s face.

Hyewon was still disappointed about the free cheesecake and disgusted at the same time as she was kept dodging her face every time Yena tried to open her mouth. “Shut up. I’m not in the mood. I want a free cheesecake too.”

“Oh. Come on! Can you be more a little participative here?” Yena whined as she instructed her. “Squeeze your hands around my neck a little tight, will you?”

Hyewon clicked her tongue as she did what she told.

“Okay, good,” Yena continued. “Now, say your line again with feelings of rage. Imagine, your lover cheated on you and you just find out right now. You know, just like that,” she prompted. “Now, act it with that kind of emotions.”

“What’s a lover? Is it an animal?”

“That’s why I said imagine it, right?”

“Fine,” Hyewon rolled her eyes. “How dare you to eat my cheese bread?” she shouted in a somehow convincing manner.

Chaewon was extremely confused as she furrowed her eyebrows at them. She didn’t know if she should stand in their way to stop them or she should call a police but she decided to stay out of there for a while and if ever things got out of hand, she might probably do something... or maybe not because she got too distracted when she saw the girl known with a best contagious sweet smile magically appeared out of nowhere in her view outside.

Yena was still not satisfied about Hyewon’s acting so she tried to push her buttons to make Hyewon to be in the zone as she placed her hands on Hyewon’s wrists and squeezed it with pleading and submissive eyes in a seducing tone. “Can you choke me a little harder... Hyewon unnie?”

Hyewon widen her eyes for she was completely horrified from what she heard as she totally gone for it and choke Yena to her death – wherein Yena despite of groaning in pain but was so actually pleased about the outcome of their today’s acting.

Eunbi was supposed to break them apart later but she couldn’t help herself as she chimed in. “Oh my god! Why does every word come out from your mouth sounded so differently in a very weird way?”

Minju was smiling from ear to ear as she saw the them from the coffee shop’s glass window panel as she carefully crossed the street by turning her head from left to right, making sure there’s no incoming vehicle with great speed approaching like she always did. Everyone inside the coffee shop and even few people outside the streets were all eyes on her from the moment they saw her – including Chaewon who had an immediate internal dilemma about how she’s feeling, and the three people at the barista counter, anxiously hoping that Minju would crossed the street safely for they didn’t want to happen again that unfortunate event six months ago. When Minju successfully crossed the street, a sigh relief came out from their mouths as they proceeded with their acting... again for nth time.

“Okay guys, just stop it,” Eunbi broke the two apart where Hyewon was still cringing and Yena was satisfied even though the skin on her neck was covered in red and still had a traces of Hyewon’s hand.

Minju opened the front door with soft giggles echoing throughout the coffee shop where she unintentionally gained attention – especially the fresh from the countryside girl first customer who’s sitting at the corner beside the glass window. Now, Chaewon was so helpless that she couldn’t remove her gaze from this person despite of the weird atmosphere inside the coffee shop especially the actions of the three people at the counter before Minju came in the coffee shop. 

“Hey everyone! Good morning,” Minju greeted them enthusiastically as she went straight to the counter as they greeted her back with smiles painted on their faces. “So Hyewon unnie, it looks like Yena unnie stole your cheese bread today, huh?”

Hyewon was still in a state of processing the level of cringe she received today so she just nodded in response.

Minju felt concerned as she pried. “Why? What’s the matter?” 

Yena butted in, still proud of the result of the acting that she blurted out. “I told her to choke m---“

Fortunately, Eunbi covered Yena’s mouth in a speed of light before she spilled everything and for making Minju confused for now was not the right time yet to reveal it to her. “Okay, I think you two should go inside the office now, right?” Eunbi suggested as she gently pushed them away towards the office door and calmly closed the door before the two even protested – for Hyewon didn’t want to be in the same room with Yena as of the moment.

“Choke who?” Minju chuckled.

“It’s nothing,” Eunbi dismissed it as she laughed awkwardly. “They’re just being too playful today. You know, like they always do.”

Minju beamed. “You’re right, and I applaud you for always doing a great job. You’re so amazing and wonderful, Eunbi unnie. You’re the best.” Minju stuck out a two thumbs up at Eunbi with the same bright energy she always radiated.

Eunbi smiled and cringed from the remarks. “Ugh, stop it. I know you’re just saying that because you wanted me to give you a free slice of cake.”

Minju acted surprised. “Oh. How did you know?”

“I knew it,” Eunbi laughed. “What do you want?”

“Yes!” Minju exclaimed while clapping happily as she bended down a little to take a closer look at the cakes in the pastries counter. She took her time to choose carefully as she took sideward baby steps as she examined every cake, humming in high spirits. Meanwhile, at the other corner of the room, Chaewon couldn’t help watching her, still mesmerized by what she’s doing even though Minju wasn’t doing that much – where Chaewon took notice that Minju scrunched her nose with a tight lipped smile if she’s too focused about something in which Chaewon find it super cute – but Chaewon still couldn’t understand why she was feeling this way.

After a minute or two, Minju finally decided where she pointed it out with her forefinger. “It’s so hard. But I want to try something new since I already planned it in my mind last night. I want this one!” 

Eunbi, and of course Chaewon, looked out where Minju was pointing at. “Oh. Cheesecake?” Eunbi asked.

Minju smiled as she nodded aggressively. “Would you believe me that today is my first time that I will try to eat cheesecake? I always loved strawberry shortcake but I wanted to try this one for today.”

Chaewon somehow felt excited that Minju would taste her favourite cake of all time for the first time today and she couldn’t wait for her to try it now so that there’s a possibility that Minju and her would somehow had a common interest – wherein Chaewon felt like she’s starting to get delusional or something but still couldn’t understand what’s going on in her – but as Eunbi kept on talking with Minju, Chaewon felt Eunbi’s reactions and replies were getting less and less authentic like Eunbi already knew the details for the long time and Eunbi was just kept going with the flow of the conversation.

“Oh. Really? That’s great. I will serve it to you at your favourite usual spot at the corner.”

“Can I get a free cheesecake too?” Hyewon chimed in with her head peeking out from the office door.

Minju pleaded. “Eunbi unnie, can you give her one too?”

Eunbi glared at Hyewon with a Bitch-Let’s-Pretend-I-Will-Give-This-Free-Today-But-You-Better-Pay-Me-Later look then quickly returned her sight with a gentle approval smile to Minju. “Sure.”

Minju gave Eunbi a quick bear hug. “Eunbi unnie, you’re the best.”

Eunbi was still glaring at Hyewon who was now celebrating quietly as she slowly shrunk back inside the office for she knew Eunbi would definitely forgot about it sooner or later. 

Minju broke the hug as she asked Eunbi something. “Anyway Eunbi unnie, before I forgot to ask. Have you ever seen my phone? I believe I left it somewhere here last night after I came from a friend’s birthday party.” 

“Uhm. No, I didn’t. Have you checked your bag?” 

“I already did a few times before I left the house but it’s not here.”

Eunbi nodded as she suggested. “Check again. I believe it’s in there. Check the bottom part.”

“Are you sure?” Minju frowned as she opened her sling bag again and searched for her phone. “Because I swear I already--- Oh,“ she stopped as she found her phone.

“What?”

“It’s here,” Minju picked up her phone and showed it to Eunbi. “That’s weird. I swear I didn’t have it here,” Minju pressed the power button of her phone to check if it’s really her phone. “I think my phone is broken.”

Eunbi wasn’t surprise at all but still asked her. “Why?”

“The date is in the future. It’s like six months in advance. Well, I guess the operating system of my phone got a little shook when my phone accidentally slipped off from the pocket of my jacket while I’m at the party last night. I didn’t check it that much because my friends keep talking to me so I just slid it back inside my bag then after the party which it ended like past midnight, I went straight here to get some coffee beans so I can make my own coffee in the apartment after I wake up from a slight hangover.”

Eunbi, and of course Chaewon in secret, kept on nodding as a respond as they listened to her story.

Minju continued with the unwavering smile still intact on her face. “Don’t worry Eunbi unnie, I didn’t drink too much alcohol because you know I’m not really into drinking in parties. Anyway, that’s why after I wake up, I’m looking for my phone and the last thing I remembered I left it here so that’s why I’m asking you if you saw it by any chance but weird things do happens sometimes and I’m really surprised that my phone is in my bag all this time.”

Eunbi cleared her throat as she contemplated before speaking up again. “I think everything that’s happening to you right now must have a reason and I know you can overcome it someday.” 

Minju was surprised by the sudden encouragement as she smiled. “Thank Eunbi unnie, I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll go now to my usual spot.”

Eunbi returned a smile as Minju walked away from the barista counter. Chaewon saw it clearly with her own eyes that there’s sadness hidden in that smile from Eunbi and there must be something going on with Minju and Chaewon was so into deep of her curiosity about the black-haired girl and what it could be to the point she was staring longer than usual at Minju where she didn’t notice that Minju was already on her way to her usual spot just the next table right beside Chaewon.

Minju caught Chaewon was staring at her, or rather gawking at her, but she didn’t mind at all for she got used to people staring at her everywhere she went to for she’s also known as the life of the party and the most charismatic and friendly one among her peers. Minju interpreted this as an opportunity to strike up a conversation with the short-haired girl so she went for it naturally as she got closer like she used to with any person she would meet.

“Hi. Good morning!” Minju met Chaewon’s gaze as she greeted her with her ever award-winning smile.

Chaewon realized she got caught red-handed as she quickly looked away and fixated her sight outside by the glass window beside her, dwelling in embarrassment and guilt of her actions but at the same time feeling the regret of not returning a simple polite recognition by not greeting her back – not to mention, Chaewon was starting to feel bad because she felt like Minju might misunderstood her actions for Chaewon always got misunderstood by people all the time throughout her life due to her social anxiety because people always thought of her and gave a first impression of her as a snob and unapproachable person when every time someone was trying to strike up a conversation with her but in fact she wanted to respond too but her social anxiety always got the best of her. Chaewon couldn’t believe she wasted an opportunity to talk to Minju but if ever she would got the chance to talk her, she would probably messed the whole conversation or it would just end up in a closed-ended replies because Chaewon didn’t like talking in general – of course, Chaewon did wanted to talk to Minju but she was entirely clueless about how and what to respond to a stranger who just wanted to have a small talk with her.

Chaewon barely even lifted her cup with her hand slightly trembling as she nervously took a few sip from her dark roasted coffee to calm herself somehow while keeping her line of sight outside as she watched the busy people walking by the pavement in fast pacing in which her heart was also in sync with the speed of the movement of the people she was looking to.

Minju didn't feel offended of any sort at all for she knew there were really types of people that didn't like small talks just like how she already sensed it in Chaewon from the get-go. For Minju, they were also misunderstood for being always too loud, talkative, and insensitive but in fact they just wanted to have a friendly conversation but sometimes, or rather most of the times, they tend to become too overwhelming especially if they were talking to introverts in which they failed to notice sometimes.

Minju was still smiling at Chaewon even if she didn't get any respond from her but she never taught of the idea that she ignored her. Minju squeezed herself between the two round tables and sat on the middle of the built-in seating banquette where Chaewon was also seating on the other end. Minju noticed Chaewon's pants not knowing that it was a pyjamas for Minju taught Chaewon had a diverse fashion sense and was defying the common smart casual attire she usually saw on streets where bright colours could also be paired to - and Minju was impressed and recognized it as she scooted herself to the opposite end where her usual spot was (where also Chaewon sat before she was requested to find another seat by Eunbi) in which Minju blurted out without removing her sight at Chaewon. "By the way, your pants are nice. I like your fashion style. Where did you get those?"

Chaewon spilled out her coffee out of her mouth in which some droplets fell on the screen and keyboard of her laptop and stained also her tops. Chaewon was coughing as she covered her mouth with the back of her hand. She tried to get some tissues at the tissue dispenser on her table but she left with nothing because she already consumed it all to wipe off her sweat a while ago. 

Meanwhile, Minju quickly took action and grabbed few tissues on her table as she handed over some of it to Chaewon. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Minju got concerned.

"Let me help you." Minju scooted closer to Chaewon before the short-haired girl could ever response to anything to help her out since Minju felt a bit guilt and responsibility about the situation. With a little to no space between them, Chaewon felt her personal space was invaded but failed to take actions about it because words suddenly couldn't come out from her mouth for the series of events happened in the speed of light and all she could hear her heart was pounding hard where it could be easily seen by Minju if ever the black-haired girl would pay attention to the movement of Chaewon’s heart on her chest – but fortunately for Chaewon, Minju was too occupied helping out – and unfortunately for Chaewon, her hands were slightly trembling and her knees were getting weak as she froze for she couldn’t stop staring at Minju’s side profile up-close.

There were some stains left and the tissue box on her table was now also empty so Minju stood up as she pointed to the barista counter. “I’ll get some wet wipes over there. Just wait here.”

“Wait,” Chaewon successfully uttered a word which made Minju stopped and looked at her eyes.

Chaewon was turned into a stone once again for a few seconds from it but managed to break the eye contact by looking at her laptop screen and pretending she’s doing something. “I- It’s- It’s okay. It’s not your fault. Tha- Thank you,” Chaewon said under her breath for her voice was also starting to get shaky.

Minju nodded. “Uhm. Okay,” she smiled. “I don’t know but I feel sorry so I’m sorry again,” Minju chuckled as Chaewon just nodded back with a tight lipped smile without looking at her again. Minju sat down and scooted herself back to the other end. She was setting the date on her phone back to the date she thought it was today while Chaewon was randomly making circles on the pointing device in her laptop while staring at nothing on the screen to calm herself about what just happened.

Chaewon was taking deep breaths in interval for a minute or two but as long as the black-haired girl was just sitting a few inches away from her, she wasn’t able to halt the race of her heart. Her head was full of questionable things to the point she didn’t notice that ten minutes had past and the preliminary interview slipped off in her mind as she realized she’s late. “Oh shit,” she cursed under her breath.

Chaewon started to panic as she searched for her earphones in her laptop bag, rummaging through it and turning it upside down but to no avail. She went on to find it in her pockets but only to realize as she felt like cold water was pouring on her that she left it in the pocket of her denim jeans. If only she changed her pyjama pants to her denim jeans before leaving her apartment, she would never forget about it. It was the one of the introvert’s worst nightmare was forgetting their earphones for it was one of every introvert’s reliable best friends when going out to avoid socializing with people outside. Chaewon was so upset the she let out a loud deep sigh where Minju noticed it.

Minju observed Chaewon was struggling whether to continue the interview or not because of course, who wanted to conduct an interview in a public place where everyone in the room could hear what they’re talking about – not to mention, also one of Chaewon’s worst nightmares. Minju knew Chaewon was about to have a video conference when she saw it out of the corner of her eyes on the laptop screen while she’s helping Chaewon wiping off the stains a while back. As for Minju who had a kind-hearted soul and helpful in nature, called Chaewon’s attention. “Excuse me?”

Chaewon looked at her where she was greeted by Minju’s warm smile as Chaewon dropped her sight to Minju’s extended hand with her earphones in it. Minju extended her hand further to lend it to Chaewon when the short-haired girl was deemed stock-still. “I’m sorry if this creep you out but I swear I don’t intend it that way. I just wanted to offer some help and I assume you need this. You can use it.”

Chaewon was hesitant to accept it – after all Chaewon had done to her by not being able to reply or to look at her properly as if it looked like she’s ignoring her but never intended to be that way at all.

“Go on,” Minju insisted by beaming a bright smile which was not very helpful in Chaewon’s case for she’s slowly drowning in those sweet smiles.

“Tha- Thank you,” Chaewon reached for it as she quickly veered her sight back to her laptop screen and plugged the earphones in.

Minju quietly giggled as she proceeded doing some stuffs on her phone but Chaewon heard it in which she caught herself smiling from the sound of it where she bit her lower lips to prevent her lips from stretching even further.

Chaewon was taking a minute or two to go over all the questions in her head that she prepared last night for the interview because she didn’t want to mess everything up and she’s not really good at impromptu when Eunbi went to Minju for it was time to reveal the truth again to her about the accident and her condition that her mind was caged in the past and was unable to create new memories. “Hey Min, we need to talk in the office about something really important.”

“Sure,” Minju stood up and went with Eunbi without having any idea about what is it but it was always the common occurrence every 48 hours.

Chaewon noticed her leaving as she was taking deep breaths and was about to press the enter button on her keyboard when Minju turned around and suddenly called her attention from a small distance. “Hey, excuse me?”

Chaewon looked up at her where their eyes met once more and yet here she’s again where her body began to freeze but managed to utter a respond back. “Ye- Yes?”

Minju shot a confusion look in her face as she asked Chaewon a question. "I don't know if this may sound stupid or what, but have we ever met before?"

Eunbi was completely surprised as two heads popped out from the barista counter, shock was visible on their faces as they listened to their conversation for they believed Minju never remembered or familiarized with new faces she met at all ever since the accident and Minju’s memories already reset back to her last memory on the day before the accident as all eyes were on Chaewon, anticipating for her to answer.

Chaewon cleared her throat as she answered honestly. "No."

"Are you sure we never met before?"

"Yes."

"Are you really sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

Minju seemed unconvinced by it as she took steps back to Chaewon. She let out a hand as she asked for something. "Look, I'm sorry if this is way too much to do but can I touch your hand just for a second?" 

Eunbi wanted to protest for it was absurd for Minju to ask to touch hands with a complete stranger and she was about to interfere when Minju spoke up again with her eyes still glued on Chaewon. “I know it’s totally inappropriate but I just wanted to prove something and I think I need to do it. It’s just for a few seconds and that’s it but if you don’t want to, it’s fine.”

Chaewon was really hesitant to do it but her mind went completely blank at this point without her even realizing that her hand moved on its own and placed itself on Minju’s palm. They touched their hands just for a few seconds but for Chaewon it felt like it was an eternity. 

Chaewon taught she would be embarrassed in front of Minju for like every part of her body was trembling and she was acting out in such a weird way that she might get misunderstood for even Chaewon couldn’t comprehend what’s going on with her too but as soon as they held hands, she felt she’s back in the countryside... she felt home.

"Are you sure we never touched hands before?" Minju queried, still confused as she was staring at their held hands.

Chaewon shook her head violently as her heart was about to burst for she could also sense the death stare from the other three people in the room. “No."

“Sure?”

Chaewon wasn’t really sure what’s going on but she was one hundred and one percent sure that they didn’t held hands nor they met before as she answered back. “Yes.”

Minju was still not satisfied as she felt Chaewon was hiding something but she decided to let go of her hand and smiled at her. "I see. I’m sorry about this and about earlier. Thank you so much. You are?” 

“Chae- Chaewon”

“Chaewon-ssi” Minju repeated it and smiled. “Your name suits your face. It’s pretty. I’m Minju, by the way.” Minju extended her hand for a hand shake.

Chaewon blushed hard but managed to reciprocate it with a shy smile as she hastily return her sight back to her laptop screen. Minju walked away as she tapped Eunbi’s shoulder when Minju passed by her. “Let’s now go to the office Eunbi unnie. I’m sorry for the delay.”

Eunbi nodded as she smiled. “Sure, you can go ahead first. I remember I just need to do something quick. I’ll join you later.”

“Okay,” Minju smiled as she made her way to the small office inside the coffee shop.

As soon as Minju closed the office door, Yena and Hyewon joined Eunbi as the oldest girl stood in front of Chaewon wherein Chaewon looked up at them as she cleared her throat.

“Chaewon-ssi, can we talk later?”


	3. three

Love at first sight.

This was the most common theme in a romantic film or literature – courtesy of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet where Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet felt love at first sight when they first both saw each other at a party and the rest was history (not really a spoiler alert: in which they both killed themselves at the end when they realized they couldn’t have each other). William Shakespeare successfully portrayed that love at first sight as a believable situation and it could happen to anyone even if the world was against them – wherein it’s no doubt that Romeo and Juliet was considered to be one of the greatest love story of all time for the reason being people loved the idea that they wanted to experience love that extreme, strong, and deep to the extent that they thought it was worth dying for.

But despite of the timeless popularity of Romeo and Juliet throughout the centuries in which many various works in film, theatre play, music, television series, and literature drew main inspiration from it during classical to modern contemporary times – even though Chaewon was into reading books and watching movies or series, she never became a fan of such weird romantic concept every time she would encounter those.

As a matter of fact, Chaewon never believed in love at first sight because for her, it’s just a mere fragment of one’s imagination where one felt that strange phenomenon just by looking at someone for the first time then recklessly coined that feeling or emotion in an umbrella term which was “love” when it shouldn’t be for Chaewon believed that love was more than a gaze although she never experienced falling in love with someone else before.

And now here’s our clueless and hopeless romantic protagonist, Kim Chaewon, who was slouching on a couch at the living room in her medium-sized loft apartment with her arms lying freely beside her as she might have her head in the clouds while the smart TV was playing a well-known classic romantic movie in the background; but all she could hear was just a flat noise for she was suffering from a terrible headache from binge-watching several movies with love at first sight concept these past few days.

The movie entitled “Titanic” where Jack Dawson, a poor third-class artist, and Rose Dewitt-Bukater, a first-class socialite, also felt love at first sight when they first saw each other on the ship. The movie was near on its end when Chaewon used the last ounce of her energy to finish watching it even though she had enough cringe from watching romantic stuffs for the day but at least she’s trying; the ship sank and Jack was freezing in the water while Rose was on a wooden raft floating on the ocean. Jack made Rose promised to live as he told her that she would die an old woman feeling the warmth of her bed and not in the frigid ocean when Jack knew he would die any minute from hypothermia – in which Chaewon couldn’t help but to roll her eyes intensely as she acted on reflex to pick up the remote control on the coffee table and turned off the TV without dithering. She just couldn’t take it anymore, not because the movie was such a tear-jerker and it was so tragic yet romantic but because she thought that part was such a total bullshit for Chaewon believed that Jack didn’t have to die because he could fit on the wooden raft with Rose. Well of course, it’s a romantic tragedy movie so what’s there to expect, right?

“Does love at first sight really requires tragedy to happen?” Chaewon groaned in annoyance as she picked up the last slice of pepperoni pizza from its box on the coffee table that she ordered last night via home delivery. She took a bite while rubbing the temple of her head as she came to think of that tragic moment in that movie, wherein Minju also experienced a tragedy and now Chaewon was in a big internal dilemma if she ever truly experienced that love at first sight to Minju. Her headache wasn’t getting any better as the result of lack of sleep nowadays for she was thinking too much. Thankfully, today was her day-off from work so she had a lot of free time for herself which was why she decided to binge-watch romantic movies overnight for her special research that she had been doing since she met Minju.

Due to extreme curiosity about Minju’s rare condition, Chaewon spent a lot of her spare time after doing her work at home to search about it all over the internet. She’d been watching documentaries and reading medical research and articles about it. She found out about that Minju had an anterograde amnesia when she had that "talk" with Eunbi few days ago – in which she would rather forget.

Minju's memories probably rebooted yesterday as Chaewon wondered what must be Minju doing after she learned the truth about her condition and how Minju would spend the rest of the 48 hours for her cousins didn't know either. They just let Minju do her own thing in the whole 48 hours as long as she would return home safe every night especially at the last hours before the 48 hours would end.

The feeling of frustration to figure this thing out was eating Chaewon alive. It's her first time to feel this way and she didn't have a clue what to do. She didn’t know if she should act on it or just let it go away as she was getting disappointed at herself for her level of understanding couldn’t comprehend what she had been feeling these past few days – to the point she would spend countless hours thinking to herself and watching a lot of romantic movies with love at first sight concept because she wanted to know how this such crappy idea work in the first place for she didn't want to admit that she felt love at first sight when she first saw Minju and it could be something else. Sure thing, Chaewon knew watching fictional movies about love was sometimes not a good basis for her special research about her feelings lately because it could be way too far-fetched from the reality – talking about desperation, but what else she could do? She already watched and read almost all whatever she could find in the internet about love at first sight to the point she barely even realized that she reached the last page of her search whether it's from a scientific explanation, advices from love gurus, and so on.

"Is it really love or is it just a strong feelings for a crush?" Chaewon spoke her thoughts out loud as she clenched her hand into a fist, desperate enough to find answers.

But Chaewon still had a last resort that she didn't want to consider doing before but she might reconsider doing it now which was to ask some of her close friends about it. It's not because she didn't trust them or whatnot but because she's just having a hard time to express her true feelings for she preferred to figure things out on her own and to bottle it all up to herself. She was the go-to person in her circle of friends, who always listened to their worries and problems; but Chaewon rarely shared hers and it had been in a long run to do it once more - but as long as the days kept passing by, her sanity was slowly slipping away about this whole fiasco in her head for she needed to have an outlet.

Chaewon freed a sharp sigh as she picked up her phone beside her and went on to her messages. She already had someone in her mind to ask about it for she knew this person for a long time and was currently in a long-time relationship with someone also in her circle. Chaewon thought this person could give her some advice despite of their small age gap as she tapped the contact of her last conversation with Wonyoung which was almost two weeks ago then proceeded to send her a message.

**Chaewon:**   
_"Hey Wonyo. Can I ask you something?"_

Chaewon shut her eyes to rest it for a bit as she anxiously waited for her reply. Fortunately, it didn’t take long enough for her phone to beep in her hand as she read the message.

**Wonyoung:**   
_“Wait. Chaewon unnie??? Anyway, sure, what is it?”_

Chaewon bit her lip as she was subconsciously feeling the texture of the fabric of the sofa with her fingers. She took her time to construct different versions of her sentences – deleting back to a blank text and then typing a new one again consecutively for the reason she didn't want to ask Wonyoung something straightforward that could give the younger girl any idea that Chaewon was actually having a “love” dilemma until she came up an idea.

**Chaewon:**

_“Look, I just wanted to know about your thoughts on love at first sight.”_

_"Do you believe in it?"_

_“I mean, is it possible?”_

_“By the way, it’s not about me.”_

_“Don’t get me wrong.”_

_“I swear it’s not about me.”_

_“I’m just asking on behalf of a friend.”_

**Wonyoung:**

_“???”_

**Chaewon:**

_“What?”_

**Wonyoung:**

_“i’M jUsT aSKiNg oN bEHalF oF a FRiENd.”_

_“By the way, this is us right now ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”_

Chaewon squinted her eyes, making sure she read it correctly as doubt washed over her for she knew this was not Wonyoung’s usual text pattern but before Chaewon could ever prove her gut feeling as she was about to reply back, her phone’s screen suddenly switched to incoming call from Wonyoung. Chaewon had a mini panic attack so she just tossed her phone beside her on the couch as she just stared at it and waited for it to end – like she usually did every time a friend or an unknown number was calling her and she knew it wasn't that important especially if it's just about her for Chaewon preferred texting over calling, or at least sent her a message to ask permission first before calling her. Her phone rang again as Chaewon did the exact same thing; but this time around, she heard loud banging on her front door followed by the sound of the doorbell as a familiar voice called her attention from there.

"Hermit unnie! Open the door! I know you're just watching your phone for the call to die right in front of your eyes," Yujin shouted.

Chaewon never saw it coming as she sprinted her way to the security mini LCD beside her door to confirm her nightmares as checked at the screen and saw Yujin, who was actually the one who was Chaewon texting to all this time, holding Wonyoung’s phone on her ear while a plastic bag full of food containers in her other hand, posing adorably at the security camera with a mischievous smile across her face; and beside Yujin was her girlfriend, Wonyoung, who’s shaking her head in embarrassment because of Yujin as she lifted a take-out paper tray with hot drinks in it to show it to their favourite unnie. "Chaewon unnie, we brought breakfast," Wonyoung smiled.

Chaewon couldn't believe it as she hastily opened the door and let them in. "Wha- What are you guys doing here?"

"Don't you remember that you promised us before you moved in to the city that all three of us would meet but ever since you set your foot here, you never even contacted us once that's why we decided to pay you a surprise visit,” Wonyoung answered as she took the plastic bag from Yujn’s hand and went straight to dining table.

“We're supposed to visit you before but we thought you're might be busy with things so we postponed it but you didn't contact us the following days and we're worried you're becoming a hermit again so that’s why we’re here." Yujin wrapped her arms around Chaewon to give her a sideways hug without any intention of letting her go as Yujin rubbed her cheeks against the top of Chaewon's head due to her tall nature.

Chaewon didn’t have a chance to complain about the physical contact for her mind was also fogged at the moment. "But how do you guys even know my address? I didn't give-", she took a pause and realized. "Oh, right."

Yujin and Wonyoung were Chaewon's friends since way back in the countryside. The couple both moved in the city and lived together in an apartment a year earlier when they both also got hired by the same company as Chaewon was also currently working on. Yujin was assigned in the marketing department which was perfect for an extrovert like her while Wonyoung was assigned in the Human Resource department that's why she knew Chaewon's address because her solo apartment was provided by their company as well. Even though they're working in the same company, Yujin and Wonyoung never saw Chaewon at their office because the couple didn't have the work from home perks which Chaewon had.

"Chaewon unnie, have you eaten anything yet?" Wonyoung asked as she transported the food containers from the plastic bag onto the table.

"I just had a slice of pizza and a bad headache," Chaewon complained.

"And a love problem," Yujin added.

Chaewon nudged Yujin with her elbow which made the taller girl laughed. "I already told you, it's not about me," Chaewon denied wherein the couple exchanged glances at each other with a sly look on their faces.

Wonyoung continued. “Anyway, good thing we brought salad alongside with pancakes and waffles today. Eat something healthy because it looks like this first love of yours is stressing you out lately.”

"But it's not what you think it is. It's really not about me," Chaewon shook her head, trying to persuade the two but she was a terrible liar and the couple could easily right through it.

Yujin hummed in an unconvinced tone as she broke the hug and led Chaewon in the dining area. Yujin pulled a chair for Chaewon and for herself as she sat beside her. "So hermit unnie, who's this person you felt love at first sight with?"

But before Chaewon could ever violently react to it, Yujin asked a question again to another question and another one. "Where did you meet this person?"

“Are you already dating?”

"Does this person know that you're always at home and you rarely take a bath because your reason is you're not going outside often so what's the point? Right?"

Wonyoung chimed in as she finished setting the table where she placed the dark roast coffee and a salad in front of Chaewon. "But Yujin unnie, isn't it that last thing you said about not taking a bath perfectly described you?"

"I know, babe. I'm just finding an accomplice," Yujin explained.

"But I'm here. How about me?" Wonyoung pouted.

“Are you willing not to take a shower for me?” Yujin anticipated.

“You know that I love you so much Yujin unnie but my answer is still no” Wonyoung chuckled.

Yujin hissed as she let out a smile eventually. “I love you too.”

"Ugh! Gross," Chaewon rolled her eyes for she couldn't take the cringe that these two lovebirds were actually flirting literally right in front of her salad.

"Hermit unnie, what's so gross about it? If you're in love you would do crazy things like you've never done before for that person without even noticing it," Yujin complained while Chaewon burst out laughing from the sight of Yujin's violent reaction and disappointment.

Wonyoung joined Chaewon from laughing as she butted in. "Yujin unnie, but taking a bath is never a crazy thing to do."

"Wait a minute. Which side are you on?” Yujin protested when Wonyoung kept cracking up as she grabbed her girlfriend’s arm to move her away from Chaewon and led Yujin to the opposite side of the table just across the older girl.

"Of course, I’m always on your side but let’s give Chaewon unnie some room to breathe and let her eat first," Wonyoung pulled a chair for both of them as she leaned closer to Yujin and whispered something in her ear. “Then you can do whatever you want but just don’t make Chaewon unnie freaked out,” Wonyoung winked at her girlfriend after in which Yujin smiled and nodded as they sat together.

Chaewon had a bad feeling about it but she was thankful at the same time that Wonyoung was always there to save the day every time Yujin was becoming too overwhelming to handle. Wonyoung was an ambivert so she knew how things were working in the world of the both spectrum. She’s like the mediator of the group where she was always the one who reached out and pulled them back to their natural places whether if Chaewon was becoming too quiet and Yujin was becoming too loud.

They ate together as they caught up in each other's lives to make up for the lost time with endless teasing, chatting, and laughing echoed throughout the apartment – in which believe it or not, Chaewon was the loudest when she’s around them – even if the couple was getting itchy to pry about Chaewon’s love problem, they saved the best for last.

After they ate, Chaewon stood up, still enduring the throbbing pain in her head. “I’ll just get some medicine for my headache. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay, catch up on us at your couch,” Yujin replied as she exchanged mischievous glances with Wonyoung for the time had finally come.

The couple tidied things up then transported their hot drinks including Chaewon’s from the dining table to the coffee table in the living room as they threw themselves on the couch, whispering at each other’s ear on how they would squeeze some juice out of Chaewon, and leaving enough space between them for their unnie to sit on. After a while, Chaewon came back wherein she was greeted by a playful smirk from the couple as the two patted the gap between them inviting her to sit there.

“Oh crap,” Chaewon wanted to run but before she could even turn around, the two giants grabbed both of her arms and gently dragged her to the couch as they forced her to sit between them, squeezing her and leaving her little to no space which made her movements limited as they made sure Chaewon had no way to run – wherein Chaewon came up an immediate scheme that she would just stick to the plan of being in denial at all cost. She heaved a sigh as she sat there anxiously and told prayers in her head.

Wonyoung initiated the conversation, or should we say – interrogation."So Chaewon unnie, a while ago you asked us about what were our thoughts on love at first sight. Right?”

“Yes, but it’s for my friend. I swear. It’s really not about me.”

“Why are you being so defensive unnie? We’re just asking a yes or no question,” Yujin remarked slyly in which Chaewon looked at her in disbelief but the couple seemed enjoying it.

Wonyoung advised as she placed an arm on the older girl’s shoulder. “I just wanted to remind you Chaewon unnie that we can't help you if you won't tell us the truth so I suggest if there’s something you wanted to confess before we start, now’s the right time.”

"Wait. But I-" Chaewon exchanged glances with the couple beside her but as much as she wanted to hold back every detail, the couple was just staring at her poor soul like they already knew the truth and they’re just waiting for Chaewon to admit it and to become honest with her feelings as she cracked under pressure. "Fine! It's about me and I need your help."

The couple finally let out a celebratory smile as they both hugged her and patted her head in happiness. Wonyoung remarked. "We're proud of you, unnie.”

Yujin broke the hug first as she got stirred up to pry. "So how it all started?"

Chaewon was burning in passion to tell them every detail in one go since the very beginning at the moment she woke up that day – this might be the side effect of keeping everything to herself that when she finally got the chance to let it out, she became relentless to the point that she even stood up in front of the couple as she kept pacing back and forth with over the top hand gestures just to express her thoughts and feelings because her brain couldn’t keep up.

Chaewon told them that her internet connection got bitchy at that time and she had an urgent job applicant interview to be done so she just went out to find a place to do her work while she’s in her sleepwear attire where she looked like a fashion terrorist. She stumbled upon this local coffee shop called “Forelsket Cafe” so she settled there until the three employees of that establishment, who happened to be cousins, began to act in an odd manner and then a majestic pretty woman named “Minju” magically appeared out of nowhere at exactly 8 am where Chaewon felt something and everything became weird. Chaewon acted super awkward around Minju and had a short interaction where Minju even lend Chaewon her earphones because the latter forgot to bring hers. Chaewon didn’t have a chance to return it because Minju always ran away every time Eunbi would broke down the news to her, not to mention that it also slipped off her mind when she had that “talk” with Eunbi where Chaewon developed a traumatic experience as she felt like she was being suspected as a stalker or a creep that had predatory intentions to Minju which in fact there was none - which again, Chaewon would rather forget that conversation.

Yujin leaned closer to Wonyoung without removing their sight at Chaewon who looked like presenting an intense sermon in front of them that seemed like wouldn’t end in any minute yet, as Yujin whispered. “Did you bring popcorn?”

"I didn’t. But at least we have tea,” Wonyoung whispered back as she picked up the two hot tea drinks on the coffee table and handed the other one to Yujin. “And Chaewon’s unnie hot tea,” she added as they both nodded and took a sip.

Chaewon continued, still feeling the fire burning inside her as she was kept pacing back and forth, "And Minju’s oldest cousin, Eunbi, is really scary. Every time I remember our last conversation, I'm getting goose bumps," Chaewon felt the hair on her skins bristled as she shook the thought out of her head. “Nope, not today Satan, I don’t want to remember it anymore.”

"But what's the reason why you had that talk with her older cousin in the first place?" Wonyoung asked.

"It's because Minju asked me if we even met before and I honestly answered it,” Chaewon replied in confidence wherein she already searched at the deepest and darkest part of her brains but it never jogged into her memory that she met Minju once.

"So did you actually meet before?"

"No. I swear over my dead body that we never met before. Not even once,” Chaewon added. “Then there’s this one scenario where she asked me if she could touch my hand so I let her. After that, she asked me if we ever touched hands before so I answered that in all honesty, I said no.”

"So I guess you’re thinking that you know she is the one from the moment you held hands,” Yujin sipped her tea.

"Yes!”Chaewon gushed as she got swayed by her emotions but quickly recovered with her cheeks covered in red. “I mean, no.”

Wonyoung suggested. "Maybe you met before back in the countryside since this is just your first time here in the city."

Chaewon believed her recollection of memories without hesitation as she responded. "But I swear I didn't. I believe both of you know that I'm like a wallflower during my school days and I rarely hangout outside so if ever I saw Minju before then I eventually felt love at first sight at Minju back then."

"So you're admitting that you actually felt love at first sight?" Yujin sipped her tea again.

"Yes!” Chaewon knew she fucked up again at that moment as her emotions always got the best of her and Yujin was taking advantage of it but Chaewon recovered once again. “I mean- no. Not necessarily like that. I don't know."

Yujin asked for Wonyoung’s tea because her cup was now empty as Wonyoung handed it over and proceeded helping Chaewon out. "Maybe you just forgot it?"

Chaewon replied. "I don't think so. How can I forget if I ever held hands with someone special before?"

"So Minju is your special someone?" Yujin took a sip from her girlfriend’s tea.

"Yes!” Chaewon stopped. “Wait. I mean-“ Chaewon couldn’t believe that she fell from Yujin’s tricks again, whispering something to herself which the younger failed to hear. ”I mean, not necessarily... yet.”

Chaewon raised an eyebrow at Yujin as she told her. “Also, can you please stop butting in the conversation like this?"

"Why?" Yujin asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"Because I can't think straight”

"Oh, are you?” Yujin punned as she sipped the last drops of tea then placed the empty cups on the coffee table after.

Chaewon rolled her eyes, clicking her tongue as she suddenly threw herself at Yujin and messed up the younger girl’s hair – they were wrestling each other at the couch while Wonyoung was sitting pretty beside them, occupied in her thoughts on how to help Chaewon.

"That's weird. Maybe she got you mistaken with someone else?" Wonyoung queried as she rubbed her chin, still unbothered by the chaos beside her.

"I don't know," Chaewon replied as the two took a timeout and went back to their original seating position in the couch.

“But we need to know first, what are your thoughts about it? Do you believe that what you felt about her is love at first sight?”

Chaewon answered in confidence. “For me personally, my answer is no.”

“Why?”

“I believe love at first sight is just a product of an instant strong physical attraction at someone.”

“Why?” Yujin chimed in.

“I mean, Minju is so damn attractive like her face is exactly my type,” Chaewon reasoned out as she recalled the first day she met Minju.

Wonyoung continued. “Okay, then how about those beautiful people that also suits your taste that you passed by the streets or you saw somewhere else? Did you feel some sort of strong attraction when you saw them for the first time?”

“I mean sure, they are pretty and all in their own ways but I never felt like this at them compared to what I felt when I first saw Minju.”

“Then maybe it’s not just because of the looks but rather a connection,” Yujin suggested, finally contributing something helpful throughout the whole conversation.

Chaewon kept quiet for a moment as she thought about it. She spoke up again with a hint of hope in her tone. "If there's some sort of connection, does it mean she also felt that way or she felt something inside her when we had that interaction?"

Wonyoung slightly tilted her head to the side as she answered. "I think she's the only person who can answer your question. But I guess from the outsider’s point of view, I think maybe there’s something because she wouldn't ask you if you two already met before or you both held hands back then if she didn't feel it, right? Who knows?"

"I agree,” Yujin nodded as she discreetly picked up Chaewon’s drink on the coffee table and was about to take a sip when Chaewon quickly grabbed her drink from the younger girl’s hand, which caused Yujin to sulk but Wonyoung saw it so she extended her arm and tickled her girlfriend’s chin as they both smiled at each other – even if Chaewon was in between them.

Chaewon shook her head as she slightly bent backwards so she could drink her coffee in peace. She wanted to believe them but it’s too risky at this point; but what mattered now was she felt some of her burdens were lifted up away from her. She decided to change the topic as she asked them."But how about you guys? Do you believe in love at first sight?"

"For me, I think maybe." Wonyoung answered first.

"Why?"

"You know, love really moves mysteriously and sometimes it hits people differently. Love is the greatest intangible which means it is also the hardest to explain where sometimes lead to lots of complications. But I believe love is not that complicated because love is pure, only the people could make love complicated.”

"Hermit unnie, that's my baby right there." Yujin, teary-eyed, was clapping her hands slowly as she proudly told Chaewon.

"I know, buddy. I know," Chaewon patted Yujin’s shoulder as she asked. "How about you? Do you believe in it?"

"Of course, I believe in it."

"Why?"

"To be honest, I don't believe in it first but when I told Wonyoung that I don't believe in love at first sight, she kept walking in front of me until I get convinced."

Chaewon protested. "But that's not love at first sight, it's love at multiple sight. Where's your first in it?"

"Where's my first? There," Yujin pointed at Wonyoung. "My first love and will also be my last."

"Chaewon unnie, that's my future wife right there." Wonyoung, teary-eyed, was clapping her hands slowly as she proudly told Chaewon.

"I know, buddy. I know,” Chaewon patted Wonyoung’s shoulder. “But I think whether it is love at first sight or not, how about let’s not just put a label on it for now? Let’s see how things go with its flow.”

“I agree,” Wonyoung nodded.

“But you better make sure first that she’s single before you make a move because it’s better to become a third wheel rather than a third party. Take it from us. You’re the best third wheel we ever have.” Yujin reminded as she gave Chaewon a quick side hug.

"Wow. I didn't sign up for that but thanks for the reminder. I'll keep that in mind." Chaewon replied in with a bit hint of sarcasm in her tone.

“But I think we should work on your confidence first, Chaewon unnie. I know you hate small talks and such but sometimes you need to do it especially in times like this. You can’t start the conversation with a stranger like playing charades, you know,” Wonyoung suggested.

“"I think the charades is a good idea," Chaewon thought to herself just to avoid having a conversation with a stranger.

"Unnie, don't."

“But how can I do it?”

Yujin chimed in as she picked up the remote control to turn on the TV. "Maybe you can start practicing to greet her good morning first or to greet her back when she greeted you first.”

"You're right,” Chaewon smiled sincerely. “By the way, thanks for coming by. I really appreciate it, you two."

"You're welcome unnie,” Wonyoung replied.

“By the way Hermit unnie, when are you going to return her earphones?” Yujin asked.

“If I find the right time.”

“Can I borrow?”

“No.”

* * *

**THE NEXT DAY...**

**CHAEWON’S ATTEMPT NO. 1:**

Chaewon threw herself away from the bed a bit early than the usual for she was extremely strung out on her agenda for the day. She didn't get the right amount of sleep last night for her head couldn’t stop processing different possible outcomes about seeing Minju again, and of course, her older cousins as well whom Chaewon was traumatized of especially by Eunbi – but Chaewon understood where it was all coming from, because Minju always cried alone and ran away after she learned the truth; and her cousins don't want to see Minju’s heart broke again because Minju had enough heartbreaks every 48 hours. But after Yujin and Wonyoung’s visit yesterday, Chaewon gained courage to see Minju again.

Chaewon wore something casual and decent with a gray statement t-shirt, a bleached high-waist slim fit pants, and white sneakers, as she also brought her sling laptop bag with her. She left her apartment just in time before 8 am in which every step she took as she got closer to the coffee shop, her heart was pounding fast. She carefully crossed the street and entered the coffee shop where she already expected the reactions that she would get from the three people inside – they failed to foresee Chaewon’s arrival at this hour which left them quite stunned for a second.

Eunbi gave Chaewon the benefit of the doubt so she just let Chaewon in as she ordered her go-to coffee shop dessert and drink – her eternal love for cheesecake and dark roasted coffee. Eunbi was almost done processing the transaction when she broke the silence and asked Chaewon. "So you're not here for Minju, are you?"

Chaewon cleared her throat as she avoided the eye contact. "No. I'm here for work"

Eunbi dropped her sight at the laptop bag slung on Chaewon's shoulder. "Okay," Eunbi ripped the receipt from the receipt machine and handed it to Chaewon. "By the way, I'm just letting you know that we got our eyes on you," Eunbi smiled. "Here's your receipt. Enjoy."

Chaewon let out a slightly uncomfortable smile as she took it, feeling the chills at once from just a simple statement from Eunbi. “Tha- thanks,” She went to her now favourite corner in the coffee shop just right next to Minju’s usual spot.

"A simple greeting won't hurt. I practice saying this a lot overnight so I better not screw this up," she reminded herself. "I just need to greet back if ever she would greet me, and if she won't, then I need to greet her first – but I’m too nervous to greet her first," she scratched the back of her head where uneasiness was evident in her face. “Ugh. This is hard but I can do it,” she thought to herself as she set up her laptop on the table, taking deep breaths in interval, and waited for Minju to come by at exactly 8 am.

**(( FAST FORWARD ⏩ ))**

Minju was now approaching to her usual spot and Chaewon did her best to pretend that she didn't saw Minju was coming – she started typing random words in her laptop with her earphones stuck in her ears. Chaewon saw out of the corner of her eyes that Minju glance at her for about one or two wearing her best smile as Minju squeeze herself in between the round tables then scooted to the other side without greeting Chaewon.

Taken aback from the outcome where Chaewon expected a greeting from Minju as Chaewon thought maybe she radiated the “Don't Disturb Me” aura too much which caused Minju failed to greet her. Since her plan A didn't work, the time had come to do the plan B where Chaewon would be the one who would initiate the greeting even if her heart was thumping loud for Chaewon rarely started a conversation with a stranger, how much more with someone whom she's a bit interested with.

Chaewon removed her earphones out of her ears, as she slightly faced Minju who's occupied in her phone – probably changing its date settings. Chaewon was about to utter a word but halted when she heard someone cleared her throat in a loud manner that her eyes searched for its source where she saw Eunbi was watching the whole time as she sipped from her cup.

The rushed of chills quickly seeped through her skin which made Chaewon sat properly as she glued her eyes on her laptop screen where she thought maybe she could try again another day, but for now she didn’t have a choice but to wait for the 48 hours to pass for she needed to reconstruct another plan in her head.

**TODAY'S ATTEMPT RESULT:**

**Eunbi: Won**

**Chaewon: Lose**

**Minju: Kim**

**Yena: Choi**

**Hyewon: Kang**

* * *

**CHAEWON’S ATTEMPT NO. 2:**

Necks were turning and jaws were dropping – those were the reactions Chaewon drew from the crowd as she walked down the streets, not because Chaewon’s pretty small face was definitely eye-catching (well, no questions asked), but because she was wearing her famous mint green ankle pajama pants again that she looked like a fashion terrorist in which she didn’t mean to standout from the crowd. Chaewon wasn't conscious at first when she wore this pajama when she went out before to find an internet connection for her urgent work for she didn't give a damn about how she dressed outside; but today, it was different and she's becoming a bit bothered by it.

For those whole 48 hours after her failed first attempt, Chaewon thought about where she went wrong so that her second attempt today wouldn’t hit the skids. If Chaewon couldn't initiate the first greet and conversation, yet in addition to Eunbi's glare, maybe she could make Minju the one who would greet her first and if Minju was the one who would initiate the greeting, then Eunbi couldn’t say anything because Minju was the one who made a move first. Since Minju was an extrovert, and extrovert relies on lots of social stimulations, then Chaewon thought maybe she needed to appear not to be too much aloof like she did last time so maybe this second attempt could work.

Chaewon entered the coffee shop and went straight to the barista counter where she was faced with Eunbi again.

**(( FAST FORWARD ⏩ ))**

Minju was now approaching to her usual spot and Chaewon re-enacted the very first time they met. Even if Chaewon was having a hard time to never break the eye contact with Minju, she stared at Minju and Minju noticed it just like the last time as she greeted Chaewon with a warm smile. "Hi! Good morning!"

"Good morning," Chaewon beamed her brightest smile as she greeted back successfully. All her practices of saying “good morning” in front of the mirror or even while she's taking a shower paid off. But now she needed to maintain the conversation even though she didn't practice this one that much, at least she managed to greet back for taking the first step that could make small things took her to greatest achievements – as she believed.

Minju squeezed herself in between the round tables as she noticed Chaewon's pants when she sat down before scooting to the other side. "By the way, I like your pants. I think it's cool.”

"Oh, really? Thanks," Chaewon smiled but at the moment she locked eyes with Minju, she was mesmerized by it and got lost in it in just a split second where she unintentionally blurted out what’s inside the part of her subconscious mind. "And I like you-"

Minju chuckled. "What?"

"No! No! No!" Chaewon shook her head violently and waved both of her hands frantically in front of Minju. "I mean, I like you- your uhm," Chaewon needed to think fast or else she might blow this whole thing up again as she pointed at Minju's top, blushing hard. "Your t-shirt. I like your t-shirt."

"Oh, my tee?" Minju checked her tops as she giggled, shifting her sight back to Chaewon. "But it's just a plain black t-shirt."

"Oh, right," Chaewon chuckled as she scratched her nape. Surprisingly, she felt comfortable in Minju's presence that fast like she was just talking with an old friend or with her closest friends. She felt like they knew each other for a long time as the small talk went on, she never felt any awkwardness in her as Chaewon thought that she might be wrong about not meeting her before somewhere – but she really couldn’t remember anything about it.

Chaewon continued, smiling at her. "But I don't understand why you like my pants. It’s just the same way I like your t-shirt and the way you like my pants when in fact mine is just actually a plain mint green ankle pajama."

"What? No way! Can I take a closer look because it really looks like pants or something?" Minju got animated and Chaewon couldn’t hide her smile.

"Su-sure," Chaewon heard the trembling of her own voice as she quickly cleared her throat when Minju scooted closer and examine her pants – it’s Minju’s side profile that always got her.

"Wow, it really is a pajama," Minju left flabbergasted like it’s her first time to see an actual pajama when in fact she had plenty of that at home. "I didn't notice it, because I think it looks good on you. I mean, I think anything you wear look goods on you,” she praised.

"Tha- Thanks," Chaewon felt the butterflies on her stomach from just a simple and innocent friendly compliment but she couldn't help but to blush wherein she got caught in the moment as she asked. "But do you know what also looks good on me?

"What?" Minju replied with her eyes still locked at Chaewon's pants.

Chaewon whispered. "My smile every time I see you."

( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°))

"What? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you properly," Minju looked up at Chaewon as she tucked her hair behind her ears. "I'm actually wearing Yena unnie's wireless earphones because I couldn't find mine. I think I lost it somewhere in the party last night or at home," Minju chuckled as she removed the earphones from her ear. "Sorry, what is it again?"

Chaewon snapped out of her cringey pick-up line for she couldn't believe that this could be the side effect of watching too much romantic films from those days as she quickly recovered. "I said, look at my mismatched socks. – it goes well with my pajama and it also looks good on me," Chaewon bragged in a cute manner.

Minju laughed. "Oh my gosh, you're right. That's really cute," Minju smiled as she extended her hand. "By the way, I'm Minju."

Chaewon shook her hand, smiling back as she had never been happier than she was now. "I'm Chaewon"

**TODAY'S ATTEMPT RESULT:**

**Eunbi: 0 point**

**Minju’s Black T-shirt: +1 point**

**Chaewon’s Mint Green Pajama Pants: +1 point**

**Yujin’s Influence: +5 points**

**Cringey Pick-up Line From Wattpad: -10 points**

* * *

_(a/n: I skipped the attempt numbers 3 to 13 because what happened there was they just had casual conversations and small talks plus Eunbi’s glare)_

**CHAEWON’S ATTEMPT NO. 14:**

Blissfulness was evident in Chaewon’s face when she entered the coffee shop – not to mention the wave of euphoria that she had been feeling these past few days, even if Minju couldn't remember her, neither the conversations they both had, she had been living on cloud nine as she also built confidence in herself more. But despite how happy she was as the days moved forward, the coffee shop manager in front of her wasn't.

Eunbi was always there and she witnessed how things unfolded between the two – but she never said anything because she got respect for her cousin, Minju – as long as Chaewon wouldn’t do anything out of ordinary that could bring harm to her younger cousin. But sometimes when Eunbi was in the mischievous mood to annoy Chaewon, she would cut their conversation short to borrow Minju to tell her the truth about the accident and her condition wherein Minju’s common reaction was to cry alone then runaway somewhere, in which they didn’t have any idea where as long as Minju would return safe home every night.

"So I'm guessing you're here again for work in your-" Eunbi remarked in a sarcastic tone as she took a quick scan of Chaewon's mint green pajamas and her mismatched socks. "-modern office uniform,” she continued.

Chaewon just released a soft awkward laugh as silence took over them. Eunbi didn't need to ask what Chaewon wanted to order because it’s always her eternal love for cheesecake and dark roasted coffee so Eunbi just proceeded with the transaction.

"Look, I don't know what you're up to but I just wanted to tell you that I always got my eyes on you so if you're doing something that could hurt her, you should stop now. Do you understand?" Eunbi warned with a hint of concern in her tone as she handed Chaewon her receipt.

"I understand but I also wanted to clarify that my intentions are pure," Chaewon assured as she took the receipt in which Eunbi spoke again.

"But we just wanted to clarify too that we're also not letting our guard down. It's not over yet," Eunbi smirked.

Chaewon didn't understand what Eunbi meant so she just let out an awkward smile as she went to her spot to wait for Minju to come where in at exactly 8 am, Minju arrived in a great mood – and she’s glowing than ever before where she was humming in high spirits as soon as she entered the coffee shop.

**(( FAST FORWARD ⏩ ))**

Before Minju went on to her usual spot, Eunbi called her attention. “Hey Minju, I have something to tell you.”

Minju came closer as Eunbi whispered something in her ear, subtly pointing at Chaewon who seemed occupied in doing something in her laptop. "Min, don't talk to the creep over there."

Minju glanced at Chaewon then quickly shifted her sight back to Eunbi. “Really? But she doesn't look like a creep to me."

"But she really is. I'm pretty sure she will come to you to introduce herself and then she will flex her mint green pajama pants."

"Should we call the police?" Minju asked anxiously.

“No, I don’t think we need to involve the police here but if she starts talking to you, just call me.”

"Okay, thanks for the heads up Eunbi unnie. I guess I’ll find another seat then."

Minju scanned the available seats that were far from Chaewon and she chose the table near the barista counter so she could easily asked for help if Chaewon would ever come to her.

Chaewon got confused as she put her hands inside the pocket of her pajama pants because her hand was slightly trembling to the fact that she would be the one who would initiate the conversation – for she didn't want to show it as she went to Minju and greeted her with a smile on her face "Good morning."

Minju just glanced at her and gave her a half-smile as she veered her sight back to her phone.

Chaewon held out a hand as she introduced herself, still smiling even though she couldn’t understand why Minju acted that way. "Hi. I'm Chaewon."

"Hi! And I'm leaving." Minju quickly stood up and ran away and hid behind Eunbi’s back where Minju assumed Chaewon was showing off her pajama when Chaewon let her hands out of her pockets based on what Eunbi told her.

"Wait. Wha-What?" Chaewon befuddled.

Minju glared at her. "Get away from me, you creep!"

“HUH?” Chaewon completely lost it.

Eunbi was trying to hold her laughter as she led Minju inside the office room together with Hyewon and Yena. Chaewon couldn’t believe that Eunbi played her dirty as she scratched the back of her head where she thought to herself that she would wait for another 48 hours to try again next time as she began to come up with a new plan and not relying on her mint green pajama and mismatched socks anymore.

**TODAY'S ATTEMPT RESULT:**

**Eunbi: 2KIMphobic (lol jk)**

**Chaewon: Heartbroken**

**Mint Green Pajama Pants and Mismatched Socks: Eliminated**

**Cheesecake Crumbs: New Entry Below**

* * *

**Cheesecake Crumbs:**

Chaewon stayed at the coffee shop for a while after her failed attempt today because of Eunbi’s dirty trick wherein she also witnessed Minju ran away again after she discovered the truth about herself. Chaewon resented that part at some degree because she couldn’t take to see Minju in a lot of pain and disappointment and she couldn’t do anything about it yet for Minju thought Chaewon was always a stranger to her because Minju couldn’t retain new faces in her memories. Chaewon wanted to go after her but Minju already thought that she was a creep in her mint green pajama pants so she decided not to do it or else she might be probably ended up in the police station.

Chaewon ate the cheesecake crumbs left on her plate before deciding to leave. Eunbi went out at this hour to buy some groceries so Hyewon and Yena were left in charge of the coffee shop wherein the two were just resting in one of the seats with round tables across the room since they're no customers coming in yet. Chaewon couldn't come up with a new plan because Yena was whining so loud that Chaewon couldn't help but to hear the whole conversation.

"This sucks! I can't wait another day. I miss my girlfriend so much," Yena groaned in irritation.

"Then why don't you meet Yuri later?" Hyewon asked while prepping the nails of her fingers.

"How can I meet her? Her university projects from her major subjects are keeping her away from me. It's been two weeks already since we last hangout," Yena slouched back as she got annoyed just by thinking of it. "Sure, I play computer games a lot but I don't know that much stuff when it comes to computer software technology or whatever you call it. I wish I can help her."

Hyewon just shrugged her shoulders while Yena buried her face on her arms on the table as she kept whining in which she didn't notice that Hyewon already left her.

A bright idea came inside Chaewon's mind as she sat on Hyewon's chair, tapping Yena’s arm to call her attention. "Hey"

Yena raised her head up and saw Chaewon. "Oh, it's the creep. Wait. Where's Hyewon?"

"She went to the office room. Anyway, I just wanted to propose something to you."

"Propose? To me? Well, if you're going to propose, you need to bend down on one knee but I just wanted to tell you that I'm not interested in someone who goes outside in her pajamas. And also, I already have a girlfriend."

"Huh? I didn't mean to propose to you. I mean, I want to propose an idea or make a deal with you."

"Sorry, not interested. If you wanted to involve me directly in your shticks to Minju, I would definitely hard pass. I don't want to see Eunbi unnie threw my stuffs outside the apartment." Yena yawned as she buried her face back again on her arms.

Chaewon remarked as she slowly stood up. "Oh, it's okay. I didn't mean to overhead your conversation a while ago that's why I'm here because I just wanted to offer my help to your girlfriend. I guess I will go home now because I remembered that I asked my assistant to arrange a schedule for a video conference meeting with my team today about the computer software application that we're currently developing. So as a team leader, I need to be on time so I will leave now. Thanks for the time by the way."

Chaewon was about to leave when she felt a grabbed on her wrist. "Wait," Yena looked up at her with a bright smile on her face like a puppy that saw a dog treat. "What is your deal again?"

Chaewon chuckled. "I can help your girlfriend out to finish her project early so you can spend time with her in exchange for something."

"Okay. What is it?" Yena paid her full attention.

"Just to be clear, I don't have anything towards your girlfriend, okay?" Chaewon sat back as she placed her hands on the table while setting the tips of her fingers together.

"I just want to borrow something from her."


End file.
